Swaziland Constitution may include gays

17 Mar 2006- Gays and lesbians may be considered for inclusion in the country’s constitution. This was disclosed by the Deputy Attorney General Mzwandile Fakudze at King Sobhuza II Memorial Park yesterday during the capacity building workshop for Members of Parliament. they were discussing about the rights of people.

Fakudze said it was up to ministers to include them in the constitution. He added that they were a lot of matters, which were yet to be discussed and agreed upon before being added in the constitution.

The MPs would then have to discuss and debate the issue and if they felt it was fair to have it included in the constitution.

The constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland is silent about the rights of people of homosexual orientation.

Under Rights and Protection of the Family section the constitution provides that ‘marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses’ but does not say whether the spouses shall be of the same sex.

During the drafting process of the constitution there was strong opposition against gays and lesbians to the extent such subject could not even be tolerated in any forum, be it parliament or anywhere else.

Another issue of concern at the workshop was that of parents who were unable to take care of themselves financially. Participants wanted to know what their rights were in the new constitution.

They also wanted to know as to what steps would be taken on their children if they neglected them yet they were able to assist.

Fakudze said even parents had rights to take their children to court and file for maintenance if they were unable to take care of themselves.

Ntsika Fakudze of the then Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) added that elderly people looking after their grandchildren had the right to sue if the parents of the children were not supporting them.

He advised participants to contact lawyers if there were any cases that they felt they needed legal assistance.

Prince Mangaliso revealed that even in the olden days people were not forced to mourn their husbands or dead relatives when a question about mourning gowns was raised.

The prince said people could not force anyone to wear a mourning gown because the person would eventually remove them anytime she felt like. He added that mourning was not in the gowns but in the heart, so whoever wanted to wear a gown to mourn her loved one would not be denied that right and vice versa.

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